SDSN Youth took part in COP29, the world's most important climate summit, presenting meaningful interventions centered on intergenerational justice and the critical role of education in sustainable development. 

Antonio Díaz Aranda, Events and Partnerships Project Lead at SDSN Youth, emphasized the critical role of youth on advancing on the global climate agenda and the importance of boosting youth voices on decision-making spaces.

Shared Tomorrow: Intergenerational Justice and Climate Action

This event, hosted by ZERO - Association for the Sustainability of the Earth System in Portugal, in collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment and Energy, aimed to highlight the importance of guaranteeing a strong protection for future generations, within a framework of Intergenerational Justice, as a resource against climate change at global level. Additionally, the event focused on manners of integrating long-term thinking to define public policies capable of responding effectively to the climate crisis facing humanity. 

“What is the message that we are sending to the next generation? That youth is a nice quota, that youth are important for events, conferences, surveys and panels but don’t you dare to dream to make decisions because for that you still need at least 20 years more.”

During his intervention, Antonio emphasized several key points:

• Collaboration across generations: Solving the climate crisis requires working together in trust and mutual empowerment, recognizing that this is not "my planet" or "their planet," but "our planet."
• Youth at decision-making tables: Intergenerational justice involves allowing youth to be at the decision-making tables. Proposing, experiencing and learning with the support and guidance from those that have walked the same path. Currently, youth is still underrepresented at the decision-making level with only 1.65% of parliamentarians globally being in their 20s (Youth participation in national parliaments, 2016), and the average age of parliamentarians being at 53 (The Global Parliamentary Report, 2015).
• Progress and challenges: 28 COPs ago it was almost unthinkable to see youth negotiators or youth representatives, COPs were spaces restricted to senior decision-makers. Now, although a lot of progress has been achieved, it remains fundamental to incentivise intergenerational justice and collaboration within all organisations. Keeping always in mind how each of us can bring youth voices to engage, collaborate and impact at the highest levels.

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The Importance and Strategies of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Responding to the Era of Climate Catastrophe

Organized by SDSN Korea, the Green Leadership Center of the University of Suwon, and the SDGs Center of Gyeongsang National University, the event summarized the outcomes of the UN’s 2022 Transforming Education Summit (TES) and the 2024 Summit of the Future (SOTF) and to explore ways to apply these outcomes to higher education policies and philosophies. The objective was also to share successful cases of youth initiatives in the education sector.

At the age of 20, Antonio asked his parents and teachers about climate change, but he was met with confusion or insufficient answers. When he tried to find more information, he encountered the hard truth: there was just not enough information on his native language. After spending hours searching, he realized that the information was rather too complicated or entirely in English. If climate change terms are already challenging to understand, trying to digest them in a language that is not your native one is even harder. 

The lack of accessible, understandable resources in his native language made the topic even more daunting. Growing up in a small Mexican state, he witnessed severe droughts and water rationing without the community understanding these events as consequences of climate change.

This experience led him to an essential conclusion: what you cannot name, you cannot understand. What you cannot understand, you cannot change—and ultimately cannot solve.

During his intervention, Antonio stressed that one of the biggest barriers to implementing ESD is the lack of integration into mainstream education systems. ESD often remains siloed as a separate initiative rather than being embedded into core curricula. This is partly due to limited resources and expertise in many educational institutions, as well as competing priorities where traditional subjects like literacy and numeracy are seen as the immediate focus, especially in developing regions. 

To tackle this, higher education institutions play a significant role in embedding ESD into their curricula in a  strategic manner, focusing on equipping students with the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for sustainability in their careers and communities.

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The Role of SDSN Youth

SDSN Youth is deeply committed to advancing youth involvement through a range of impactful initiatives, including:

• Intergenerational Dialogues: SDSN Youth foster spaces that bring together young leaders and experienced professionals to navigate on today’s most pressing topics.
• Local Pathways Fellowship: This program empowers youth to implement sustainable actions in their communities, focusing on climate resilience and social equity at the grassroots level.
• Non-Formal Education: SDSN Youth offers workshops and capacity-building sessions that inspire youth to engage with sustainability beyond traditional classrooms.

The climate crisis is a shared responsibility. Through SDSN Youth’s initiatives and the collective voices of youth at COP29, it was clear that the future is not just something to inherit—it is something to create. By fostering intergenerational collaboration and empowering youth, SDSN Youth continues to prove that youth are not only the future, but most importantly they are the present.

For additional information, please contact youth@unsdsn.org 

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